NAB 2000: Enabling Today’s Interactive Television Solutions

April 10, 2000
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LAS VEGAS, April 10, 2000 — At this year’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 2000 convention in Las Vegas, thousands of broadcast professionals gathered to explore new technologies and opportunities for their industry. Of particular interest this year are the growing digital media and interactive television industries, where technology has evolved to make rich broadband entertainment possible — but many broadcasters need a helping hand to get started in this new field.

At this year’s convention, Microsoft announced a variety of agreements, initiatives and technologies that can help broadcasters easily develop next-generation television solutions. Through Microsoft’s comprehensive TV platform, Windows Media Technologies and the company’s support of the Advanced Television Enhancement Forum (ATVEF), the broadcast industry now has the tools to easily bring digital media and interactive television into the mainstream.

The company announced a variety of agreements with television production system providers, who will support the company’s TV platform and ATVEF standards for creating and transmitting interactive television content. Agreements with Grass Valley Group Inc., Vertigo Multimedia and Video Design Interactive add to the growing industry support for ATVEF and Microsoft’s TV platform, which aims to make interactive television a reality for consumers by enabling a simple, standards-based approach to content production.

ViewCast.com, a leading provider of digital video communications solutions, joined Microsoft to unveil the first end-to-end digital video system for live broadcast streaming. Using ViewCast.com’s professional-grade Osprey-500WM/DVPro video capture card, which includes built-in support for Windows Media Technologies, broadcasters can use a single solution to easily capture and deliver live or on-demand streaming media without the technical limitations and video quality issues of other digital video solutions.

Microsoft also unveiled the development kit, format and encoder for Windows Media Technologies 7, the company’s broadband-ready platform designed for the creation, distribution and playback of broadcast-quality digital media. In addition to unmatched audio and video quality, the easy-to-use platform also features screen-capture compression technology that allows users to capture and stream high-quality computer images for use in software demonstrations and training. This comprehensive digital media platform is rounded out by Windows Media Player 7, made available to software developers earlier this month, which provides end users with a fully integrated digital media experience, a redesigned user interface and unprecedented flexibility and ease of use.